Overclocking FSB

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Hey, I'm trying to overclock the FSB speed of my CPU, but whenever I do so it is either very unstable (will freeze randomly, or wont boot) and when it doesn't boot I have to put it in Bios Config mode (Boots straight to bios after doing POST, and I believe it doesn't load custom settings and loads factory default settings when doing so)

And, when I had OC'd the FSB, I felt the cpu, it was not hot, and the only way to get it to run at all was to up the voltage to 1.45v instead of 1.40v

I plan to be getting a Q6600 soon, but I'd like to know if anyone has any suggestions for getting it to overclock in a stable way
Also, My Case does not have a shroud for moving the air from the CPU fan to the back casefan, is there any way I could build one of my own, or do something to help move the air?

Also, I plan to build a custom converter that will convert the stock XBOX 360 fan to be able to be used on a PC thru a molex cable, the thing REALLY moves air when set to 12v as apposed to the stock 5v that it runs at.
I have a few spares of them so that is not a problem.

Like said above, any suggestions would be helpful, thanks!
Also, I was able to lower the the temp of my GPU by a whopping 40*C just by moving a casefan, if you would like an mspaint drawing of what I did, just ask and I'll post it, or I'll try to take a picture.

[Cortexian]

Uh... You already solved your problem, you need to up the voltage to your CPU... You expect to be able to force your CPU to run faster with the same voltage as stock? Increasing the voltage is almost always part of every overclock, the key is to find out how little you need to increase it. Increase it just enough so that it runs with good stability or you could risk sending your CPU to much voltage which will decrease the lifespan of your CPU.

[Warsaw]

^What he said. Also, check your RAM, it might be running too fast for the CPU on overclock, usually after a certain point you have to lower the speed of the RAM to decrease latency so it can keep up.

I can't overclock mine past 200MHz period, voltage increase or not.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

The way my mobo works, it shows the actual speed that it would be running at, eg 533, 800, 1066, 1333, etc.
Also, the ram is at the highest i could set it to (800 i think)
Any suggestions on the voltage?
The Voltage is currently at 1.4v
Its odd though, because when at 1.45v I could sometimes get it to boot
but any lower, or higher would rarely boot, if even at all
:S

[legionaire45]

First, let's check and see if your CPU, ram or chipset is the issue. Set the CPU multiplier as low as it will go and see if you can push your front side bus any more. If it doesn't go any higher, trying pulling out all but one stick or ram and see if that gives you any more FSB.

If it boots fine with the multiplier turned down then your CPU has probably hit a wall and you'll need to throw more volts at it, which probably means better cooling as well.

If it boots with all but a single stick pulled out, then your motherboard's northbridge is having trouble handling that much ram at those clocks. Get denser memory modules or get a new motherboard.

If it still doesn't boot after pulling out all but a single stick of ram, then you're northbridge is probably the problem. I'm not very familiar with how well that chipset clocks, but I doubt that the northbridge is going to be a problem. If it is, either update to a newer motherboard that can handle a bit more FSB (P45 or X45 chipsets are decent) or try your luck at upping the north bridge voltage. Again, you'll probably need more cooling for that and it may not be worth the risk since the northbridge can be pretty fragile sometimes.

If you're using a windows based overclocking tool, don't. L2Bios like a real man! xD.

Also, you'll be better off if you use a tool like Speedfan for checking temperature of the CPU. Touching it won't give you a good idea of whether your CPU is melting in the socket or not.

[Cortexian]

Also, you'll be better off if you use a tool like Speedfan for checking temperature of the CPU. Touching it won't give you a good idea of whether your CPU is melting in the socket or not.
Plus, you can't gen an accurate temperature reading on your CPU by touch unless you don't have any kind of HSF mounted. If you don't have a HSF mounted while running your CPU, you shouldn't be messing with your PC's hardware, let alone overclocking it.

[Warsaw]

The way my mobo works, it shows the actual speed that it would be running at, eg 533, 800, 1066, 1333, etc.
Also, the ram is at the highest i could set it to (800 i think)
Any suggestions on the voltage?
The Voltage is currently at 1.4v
Its odd though, because when at 1.45v I could sometimes get it to boot
but any lower, or higher would rarely boot, if even at all
:S

No no, you need to slow the clock on the RAM down. As the clock is lowered, the timings improve.

E.g.

Say you have DDR2 800 at timings of 5. Lower it to DDR 533 and then you get timings of 4, which is an improvement. You need the lower latency so that your CPU doesn't outstrip the RAM, in layman's terms.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Alright, so I should set the ram to a lower setting?
Also, What is CL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, and tRC?

[Cortexian]

What is CL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, and tRC?
Check this (http://tinyurl.com/npszk4) out!

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

I managed to get it up and running nicely, just the ram is a bit slower though (running at 533 or so I think) Does anyone know of a way for me to get it to go faster, and be able to keep this higher fsb?
E: It seems that when i use quite a bit of ram, it will freeze and stop working, Is this a heat issue?

[Cortexian]

I doubt it's a heat issue, what are your CPU temps?

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

I've tried to run speedfan twice, but each time I got the BSOD, and then my pc would restart at the end of the loading windows screen, and the only way to get it to boot would be unplugging, waiting a few seconds, then plugging it back in to start it.

[Cortexian]

Try "CPU Temp".

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Last I knew, Bios said it was around 80*c :S
I don't have a shroud giving better airflow, and I don't know where I would get one.
If anyone knows how to make/get one, that would be appreciated, thanks :3
E: I got a windows based temp monitor to work, and after putting in an old xbox 360 fan it runs abit cooler at 66*c
I was also able to drop the gpu temp to 52*c with it :3

[Warsaw]

I managed to get it up and running nicely, just the ram is a bit slower though (running at 533 or so I think) Does anyone know of a way for me to get it to go faster, and be able to keep this higher fsb?
E: It seems that when i use quite a bit of ram, it will freeze and stop working, Is this a heat issue?

Sounds like it's just not stable. Not all CPUs are created equal, my friend. Could be that the north bridge is getting too hot if it is a heat issue, though I don't think it is. I just think that you are pushing it farther than it can go.